An Introduction to Research for Primary Dental Care Clinicians

Abstract

This paper, the fifth in the series, will address the sixth of the ten stages of a research project suggested in the first paper. The ten suggested stages are: 1. The initial idea (asking a research question). 2. Searching the literature. 3. Refining the research question. 4. Planning the study. 5. Writing a protocol. 6. Obtaining ethical approval and funding. 7. Piloting the methodology and project management. 8. Collecting data. 9. Analysing the data. 10. Writing up and disseminating the results. A previous paper1 has outlined the how to plan a research project. The next stage has two elements, which are to obtain ethical approval and to obtain funding. Each is the topic of a separate paper. This paper outlines the key areas within the topic of funding and updates two previous publications.2,3